Have you learned to trust me when I tell you that you need to make this? It’s a tomato soup first and foremost, but it’s quite complex with other flavors. And vegetarian too. Even vegan if you didn’t serve the yogurt on top.
Surely, in my recipe software, in my to-try file, I must have 10 lentil soups waiting for me to try. You’d think there couldn’t be another way to invent a lentil soup, for goodness’ sake. This soup, however, is more a tomato one with lentils as the sideline, the accent, the texture perhaps. There’s only 1/3 cup of lentils in the soup, and if you were to puree this completely, you’d not even know they were there.
And I might have passed this one by had I read it. But that would have been a mistake. As it was, I attended a cooking class with Tarla Fallgatter, and she made this soup for us. First she made the roasted/toasted chickpeas (garbanzo beans). And as she explained, they’re a bit tedious to make. Enough tedious – I’ve made them before – that when I heard that you
Update:
I bought already toasted garbanzo beans at a local Middle Eastern Market. Taste was awful, so I’ll go back to making my own when they’re needed.
can buy toasted chickpeas at Middle Eastern markets. So I did – you’ll find them in the nuts and seeds department. I won’t have to go through the nuisance of taking the skins off the canned beans, drying them, then seasoning and oiling them, then baking them for awhile.
Actually, the soup could be served without the chickpea garnish altogether. The soup itself is plenty good all by itself. AND, you wouldn’t have to serve the yogurt on it, either, if that didn’t appeal. Maybe some croutons? Or sour cream if that’s more your choice than yogurt. But whatever garnish, you really should make the soup. The poblano (pasilla) chile adds a lovely fragrance and flavor to the soup. I love poblano chiles. I even drove to a Mexican grocery store a week or so ago hoping that they would have canned poblano chiles. No. In this soup, though, you don’t have to roast the chile to remove the skins – it’s the chile flavor you’re looking for and the skins will disappear. The soup is also flavored with fresh ginger, garlic, ground coriander and ground cumin. Middle Eastern flavors, or maybe Egyptian, or Indian. Any and all of the above.
What’s GOOD: the flavor of the soup is what hooked me. The cumin and ground coriander are subtle, but there. The ginger too. The poblano chile is an undercurrent in the flavor profile too. Altogether delicious. It should freeze well, too. Try to find red lentils if you can so the soup doesn’t have a brown color. The toasted garbanzo beans – well, try to find them at a Middle Eastern market. They are so delicious (but a lot of work to make them yourself). The soup comes together in short order, too – about 45 minutes, I’d guess, not including the time to make the toasted chickpeas. Double it and freeze some.
What’s NOT: well, as I mentioned, toasting chickpeas isn’t a favorite pastime of mine – if you can find them in a Middle Eastern grocery store, go for it. You can serve the soup without them anyway.
printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook 15/16 file (click link to open recipe)
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Tomato and Lentil Soup with Roasted Chickpeas
Recipe By: Tarla Fallgatter, cooking class, Sept 2016
Serving Size: 4
2 tablespoons coconut oil — or canola oil, or olive oil
1 medium yellow onion — chopped
2 tablespoons fresh ginger — finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 small poblano chile — coarsely chopped (or a serrano)
28 ounces canned tomatoes — chopped, with juices
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth — or vegetable broth
1/3 cup red lentils — rinsed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup Greek yogurt, full-fat — or fat-free, for garnish
ROASTED CHICKPEAS:
15 ounces chickpeas, canned — drained, rinsed and PEELED, (optional)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon spices — ground cumin, sumac, ground coriander
2 tablespoons olive oil — (might need more)
1. Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, and chile, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 45 seconds.
2. Add the tomatoes and their juice, the broth, and lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, 30 to 35 minutes.
3. Purée about half of the soup mixture in a blender smooth. Pour back into soup pot. You may also puree all the soup (that’s what was in the original recipe.) Thin with a little water if you like. Serve with a dollop of yogurt, and garnish with the roasted chickpeas, if using.
4. ROASTED CHICKPEAS: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Place chickpeas on a flat pan and gently rub them and pick off the skins, being careful not to bruise and damage the bean itself as you’re doing it. Repeat for all the beans. If you don’t remove the skins, the beans won’t get crispy.
5. Place chickpeas on a paper-towel lined baking sheet and let them air dry for at least 30 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and toss with oil and seasonings. Spread on the same baking sheet (without paper towel) and roast, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until slightly darkened and crisp on the outside, about 20-30 minutes. If the look dry, remove and drizzle more olive oil over them and return to oven. If necessary, reduce heat by 25° and continue roasting until they are crisp. Season with additional kosher salt, if desired.
Per Serving: 409 Calories; 19g Fat (38.8% calories from fat); 19g Protein; 49g Carbohydrate; 12g Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 886mg Sodium.
Toffeeapple
said on December 3rd, 2016:
Ready roasted chickpeas – whatever will they think of next?!
I do like lentils in my soups but find the texture of chickpeas quite disappointing.
People from India and other Middle Eastern countries use a LOT of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, and they obviously need to think of lots of ways to use them. I really like them roasted and crisped, but they’re a nuisance to make. The ones I purchased tasted like ground up cardboard or wallpaper paste. Ugly taste! Chickpeas are so good for us, but I’m not always enamored with the flavor of chickpeas – I buy them canned and will pay for an up-brand label because they generally taste better, for some reason . . . carolyn t
hddonna
said on December 4th, 2016:
I do enjoy the flavor of chickpeas, and I’m crazy about poblanos; I’m sure I’d like this soup!
I have corrected the recipe itself – it said serrano, not poblano, just in case you printed it out already. . . carolyn t